17 Unique Fruits to Elevate Your Next Pie

Although pies can have so many different fillings, some tried-and-true options will always be a favorite among many. No one will argue with a freshly-baked apple pie with a scoop of vanilla ice cream on top, while a blueberry pie is a great way to make use of a summer bumper crop of the fruit. But the more you explore, the more likely you are to find fruits that are just as worthy of a spot in your pie as these age-old classics.

As a home baker, I’m always trying to expand my ingredient lexicon and work with new and unexpected flavors. In recent years, I’ve branched out to try more and more unique fruits in my pies, as I find that they can really change up a basic pie into something that’s more modern, funky, and just plain fun. Here are some of the fruits that I have been experimenting with recently, and ways you can use them in your own pie recipes. Not only will you find that they offer exciting new flavors, but their textures might also surprise you.

You may be familiar with pineapple upside-down cake, but what about a pineapple pie? This tropical fruit is a great addition to a pie filling because it is juicy and it has a slightly citrusy flavor that will make other flavor notes in your recipe pop. For example, it’s in good company with brown sugar and vanilla, as well as with other fruits like apricots and bananas.

The one thing that’s important to note about pineapple, though, is that it is quite juicy. In order to counteract the juiciness, I would highly recommend cooking it down on the stovetop with a little bit of cornstarch before you add it to your crust to ensure that it won’t seep down and result in a soggy bottom. Either fresh or canned pineapple will work for this pie; you’ll just want to make sure you drain some of the juice if you opt for the latter. You can also try a tropical variation on chess pie by blending canned pineapple down with the rest of your pie fillings. This will give your pie a little kiss of tropical flavor without risking a mealy consistency.

Oh apricots, the forgotten and misunderstood stone fruit. Although peaches and cherries have gotten the pie spotlight on them so much over the past few years, they’re not the only stone fruits that belong in your pie. Instead, you should consider adding apricots, which boast a gentle tartness and subtle honey notes. 

You can essentially prepare a fresh apricot pie in the same way that you would prepare a peach pie; peeling the fruit, removing the pits, and slicing them into pieces. That being said, apricots are a bit tedious to peel and cut because of how small they are. You may need upwards of 5 cups of apricots for your recipe — which could mean peeling nearly 30 fruits by hand. So, if you can find them frozen from a local orchard, that might be a better way to go about making your pie. 

Apricots are in good company with other simple ingredients. Add a drizzle of lemon juice and a little bit of sugar to them before you tuck them into your crust. Or, you can add the apricots as a flavorful addition to a more conventional pie filling, like apple. Alternatively, you can take the tart route; they’re especially delicious paired with an almond crust.

Honestly, mulberries weren’t really on my radar until I rediscovered the children’s book, “And to Think That I Saw That on Mulberry Street.” I initially wondered what a mulberry was (spoiler: it’s a blackberry-like fruit with more tartness and complexity), but after I got my hands on some at a local farmers market, I was hooked. These fruits are difficult to find, due to the fact that they don’t keep as well as conventional berries. But, their bright flavor and unique juicy consistency still makes them a great fit for pies. 

The flavor of fresh mulberries and mulberries that are baked are very different. If you eat them out of hand, you’ll get a juicy sweetness. But the longer you cook them, the more you’ll get caramel undertones and what some folks would call a nutty complexity. 

As you can probably expect, mulberry pie is juicy and can turn very soggy, very fast. So, you’re better off adding plenty of thickener and cooking down your pie mixture beforehand. I think that these fruits are best prepared simply — like in a double-crusted pie. Add a little bit of lemon juice for acidity and white sugar to balance out the fruit’s natural tartness.

The cherry pie scene is definitely dominated by sweet varieties — including the ever-popular Bing and colorful Rainier. But, the next time that you make a cherry pie, you should consider incorporating some sour cherries into the mix to balance out the flavor.

There are two potential routes you can go with to achieve this. For one, you could make a pie out of just sour cherries; use both frozen and dried to give your filling the perfect consistency. You can also add a boozy twist with a little splash of kirsch; the brandy will reintroduce some sweetness to an otherwise tart pie. However, I would also recommend adding some sour cherries to your regular ole cherry pie filling, as it will help counteract some of the sweetness and ensure a more balanced bite. Montmorency and Morello cherries are two varieties worth adding to your pie, and they’re a little easier to find than some of the more niche sour cherry varieties.

Persimmons are such a beautiful and under-appreciated fruit. I like to think of them as a firm peach in the body of a tomato. They have that sweetness to them that makes them absolutely delicious, though their thick skin and woody stem may make some people hesitant to try to cook with them. But once you master the intricacies of this fruit, it’s guaranteed to have a spot on your regular produce rotation.

The most common type of persimmon pie recipe you’ll find is similar in texture to a pumpkin pie. So, you’ll want to follow a similar procedure. Par-bake your pie crust to ensure that it gets nice and crispy on the bottom before you add in your filling and finish it off in the oven. The ripe hachiya persimmon is introduced in the form of pulp, which should be added to the custard with the warming spices and sugar. The key here is to use ripe persimmons; they should be slightly soft to the touch. 

That being said, you can also try your hand at a fruit pie with fuyu persimmons, though the texture won’t be quite like the fruit pies you’ve had in the past. The fruit caramelizes in its own juices, and it’s a great complement to other add-ins like pears and apples.

There is a very strong chance that you’ve never heard of soursop before. This spiky fruit, also called a graviola, is found in the tropical regions in Central America and the Caribbean. It has long been praised for its potential health benefits, though it is still making its way into American kitchens — in other words, it may be hard to find at a supermarket. However, if you have an ethnic grocery shop in your area, it’s worth keeping your eye out for frozen soursop, which has already had its seeds removed.

This fruit is, as its name suggests, sour and tangy. It boasts a custardy consistency akin to an avocado or a banana. As a result, this is a fruit you’re going to want to turn into a custard filling, rather than a fruit pie filling. You can try it as a no-bake pie, or you can even use the puréed fruit as a flavoring for a cheesecake.

Black currants are probably more well-known than others on this list, but you may not have seen them in baked goods yet. Their flavor is a cross between a berry and a grape, though some people also draw parallels to raspberries too. The one thing to note here is that black currants are mouth-puckeringly sour. Like if you don’t enjoy sour flavors, stay away from this fruit.

But if you are a fan of all things tart (pun intended), you may want to try adding this fruit to your next pie recipe. And, there are several different pathways worth pursuing. For one, you could make a simple fruit pie with black currants, sugar, and a thickener like cornstarch. The sugar here is going to be essential, as it will balance out the acerbic bite of the fruit. Or, you may consider making a black currant curd out of them and topping it with a tall meringue garnish for a fun, colorful twist on a classic lemon meringue pie. 

My family in Hawaii had a starfruit tree. It was love at first bite for me. Luckily, I can still find the tropical fruit in the produce department at my local grocery store in Rhode Island during some months out of the year — though I really have to keep an eye out for it. Besides the fruit’s unique shape, its flavor is also worthy of note. It’s citrus-leaning, though inoffensive — like that of a grape or a pear.

Since the fruit’s shape is so unique, it makes sense why you would want to try to keep it as intact as possible, rather than cutting it up. As a result, I would recommend taking more of a galette approach here. You can thinly slice the fruit (though not paper-thin, as this will compromise the structural integrity of it). Carefully remove the seeds with a sharp knife before layering them on a piece of pastry and folding over the edges to create the galette crust.

If you can’t tell, I have a thing for berries — including the beautiful (yet humble) boysenberry. It’s a cross between a raspberry and a blackberry and is commonly grown on the West Coast or imported to the U.S. from New Zealand. As you can guess by its cross, it’s a very juicy and plump berry that is fantastic both for eating out of hand and baking into a ton of delicious recipes.

Granted, there is a little more tang in this fruit than what you might be used to with a raspberry or a blackberry, so make sure to be generous with the sugar. You can also bring out more of a sweet flavor by letting your fruit macerate in the sugar. Before you even start making your crust, combine your fruit with the sugar. By the time your crust is chilled and ready to go, your fruit will be too.

I’d reckon to guess that guava is a fruit that you’d more likely use for a juice than for a fruit pie. But, its pastel pink color and tropical flavor makes it a worthy contender for a pie, too.

Guava can be fleshy, which means that it’s not always a “good” fruit for a double-crusted fruit pie. But, you can make a custard out of the juice, which will allow you to capitalize on its citrusy flavor and bypass its texture. Alternatively, you can also make a guava curd with guava paste to use as a layer in a meringue pie. The bright, sweet flavor of the guava would be an excellent foil to the decadent and showstopping meringue topping.

In my many years of being a plant-based eater, I have become well-acquainted with the wonderful jackfruit. This massive fruit, which luckily comes already pre-canned and can be found at Asian grocers, has a very similar mouthfeel to pulled pork. Though, the taste itself is very much not pork-like — or like anything really. There’s no such thing as overseasoning jackfruit because it doesn’t have a flavor to begin with. That’s why, combined with its stringy texture, you’ll often see it used for imitation pulled “pork” or shredded “chick’n” dishes.

When you look at it this way, you can see the utility of jackfruit for something like a chicken pot pie. Cook the rinsed and shredded jackfruit bulbs down with aromatics, like onions and garlic, and a soupy base for a wholesome and satisfying meat-free weeknight dinner.

Green tomatoes are a summertime staple and one fruit you’ll need to use up before it goes bad. Luckily, you can integrate these savory nightshades into an array of baked goods, including pies.

Although it might sound a little odd, you can use green tomatoes in a pie just like you would use apples. Combine chopped green tomatoes with sugar, spices like cinnamon and cloves, and a thickening agent like flour. Obviously green tomatoes don’t have the same natural sweetness as the other fruits on this list, so you will need to up the sugar content to accommodate for this. Though, if you’re wary of exploring sweet pies made with this fruit, you can always start with savory ones instead. For one, you can use it in an heirloom tomato tart. While the green tomatoes won’t stand up to the flavor of the heirlooms, they will act as a nice textural addition to this summery baked good.

Pomegranate seeds on a salad? Great. Pomegranate seeds in a pie? You might be a little more skeptical.

The seeds are like Mother Nature’s boba. They’re popping with bright, fruity flavors — and they can almost be a surprise when you get a couple in a bite. Try using a couple of handfuls of the seeds in something like an apple pie to add a burst of color and flavor.

That being said, there are other ways to introduce this unique fruit flavor into your recipe without going for the seeds. For one, you could consider using the juice, like in this recipe for a pomegranate cherry cocoa pie. Alternatively, you can use the juice to flavor your custard or no-bake pie.

While many of the fruits on this list are grossly underplayed, I find that dragon fruit fits more into the category of “misconstrued.” It’s such a beautiful fruit, and I hate to see it imitated in something like a Starbucks drink where its flavor only skims the surface of its truest potential. If you’ve ever scooped out the filling from its colorful shell, you know that it’s brimming with kiwi and pear-like notes. It’s not as outright tangy or bold as some of the other fruits on this list, but it does offer a delightful flavor that is worth adding to your pie.

The best way to go about adding the fruit is to purée down the filling (not so much that the seeds turn chalky) and add it to a no-bake or custard pie filling. Unfortunately, the seeds are an inevitable part of this pie, but if you can stand a pie made with whole raspberries, then you can probably tolerate the consistency of a dragon fruit pie.

Quince is a fruit that looks like it tastes. Its outward appearance resembles a cross between an apple and a pear, and that’s often what I liken its flavor to. Though, it does embody more of the pear’s grainy texture. Its tartness is also more than both of these fruits, which can add a welcomed complexity to an otherwise simple and one-dimensional pie.

One important thing that I have to mention here is that quince cannot be eaten raw — and if you try to do so, you will regret it. Instead, I would recommend simmering down the fruit and poaching it before you use it in your pie recipe. You can poach it in water, or opt for juice or wine for a more flavorful option. Quinces can also be used in tandem with apple to add more texture to your pie filling.

Tamarillo is likely not a fruit that you’ve heard of before — unless you are super familiar with Asian, Australian, or Indian cuisines. This member of the nightshade family is also called the “tree tomato.” And, its flavor and consistency does draw some similarities to this more common fruit. But, it’s slightly sweeter and more tart than a tomato, which tailors its utility more to sweet applications.

Like the tomato, the seeds of the tamarillo are edible — though they will be noticeable in the finished pie. It’s worth noting that you’ll want to blanch the fruit to make peeling it easier. Once the fruit is ready, it can be mashed up, some of the liquid can be drained off, and it can be added to the pie filling. Like other fruits, it will still need a little lift from the sugar and lemon juice, but other than that, it’s a straightforward filling to make. The hardest part is going to be to source the fruit itself. My recommendation? Try online fruit vendors to see if you can get your hands on some of this unique produce — you’ll be glad you did.

Lychee is a super fun and unique fruit, and there’s very little work you have to do on your part to add it to your pie. You can buy canned lychee at the store or through an online vendor, which will save you the work of removing the shell of every single fruit. Lychee are excellent paired with other pie fillings, including pineapple and blueberry, as well as punchy flavors like ginger and lime.

The lychee’s flavor is not really a standout, as it has very subtle notes of rose and citrus. As a result, you’re better off pairing it with complementary flavors rather than trying to make a 100% lychee pie. This fruit will offer a distinct florality to your dessert and elevate its flavor.